The first flight of Algerian pilgrims for the 2026 Hajj left Algiers airport on Wednesday 29 April. Algeria's quota this year was 41,300 pilgrims.
Air Algérie flight AH300/251 opened the season from Houari Boumediene airport. The national Hajj and Umrah office (ONPO), led by Tahar Braik, planned 144 flights from 12 airports across the country.
Air Algérie's chief executive, Hamza Benhamouda, said the airline would run 88 of them, with flights to Jeddah from 21 May. Pilgrims from Ghardaïa and El Meniaa, 1,122 people, flew from Ghardaïa airport between 11 and 13 May.
In early May the Algerian consul general in Jeddah visited the mission's centre in Medina to check arrangements.
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